Charles O'Howell gets 25 years for 1981 Cape Girardeau rape

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - A man already in prison for rape has been sentenced to another 25 years for a sexual assault that happened three decades ago in southeast Missouri.

Fifty-year-old Charles O'Howell was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to forcing his way into a woman's Cape Girardeau home and raping her in 1981. He also admitted to breaking into another Cape Girardeau home in February 1982 and robbing a resident at gunpoint.

The Southeast Missourian reports that DNA evidence linked him to the crime. The rape victim addressed the court during the sentencing hearing and asked the judge not to allow O'Howell an opportunity to leave prison.

Besides the new sentence, O'Howell has 25 years left to serve on a 55-year sentence for kidnapping and raping a 15-year-old girl in 1982.